Nearly 700 professionals from all over the world are in town to discuss disaster and resilience at RES/CON New Orleans 2016.

"Resilience is a lifestyle choice. Resilience is thinking about every eventuality,” said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., producer of RES/CON.

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The event began Tuesday and will last until Thursday at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. It was formerly known as the International Disaster Conference and Expo.

"The goal of the conference is to exchange ideas that we can then take back across the world,” says Hecht.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu opened the conference Tuesday morning. His message was that New Orleans is one of the most resilient places in America and on Earth. The city's comeback story has become globally recognized over the last 10 years.

"So what I love about RES/CON is that it has taken us from being seen as the victims of disaster to being the masters of disaster," says Hecht.

The conference will feature experts and exhibitors who develop supplies, like a patient isolation transport unit.

"If someone has a highly infectious disease, they need to be treated while they're being transported. Once again, we have to protect the crew, the ambulance crew, the rescue squad," said Chandler Martin, national sales manager for Commonwealth Emergency Management Group Inc.

Experts will discuss best practices for crisis management. One of the top speakers is the special envoy from the Netherlands to discuss one of the most important substances on Earth: water.

"There are a number of panels on water and a number of panels on infrastructure. And actually what's going on in Flint is about water and infrastructure,” says Hecht.

Only the strong survive is the mentality RES/CON hopes to transform.

"So going forward, it's going to be the resilient that not only survive, but thrive. And that's what RES/CON is meant to teach people," said Hecht.